Friday, February 29, 2008

Here is the Spring wall hanging that Felicia was inspecting the work in progress last night. I have got to learn to take better pictures! It has a blue border, but kind of hard to tell in this picture. I designed this on EQ6 for my neice, but liked it so much that I am making one for myself. My hubby and daughter Ellen liked the black and white check borders.

Also, there is a challenge out there to show our ironing boards. I am not so sure what is interesting about an ironing board, but here mine is. I have an oversized board that I cover myself. I discovered how easy it is to make a cover when I could not find a new one to fit my board. I do have a full size Oreck iron that did not show up on the picture. Sitting on top of the ironing board, is one that I made by covering a cork board with heavy fabric. I wanted you so see my travel iron that goes with me to workshops...this is the iron I use the most, even here at the house. I just love this little iron, and when the handle latch broke so that every time I pressed down on the iron, the handle collasped and I smashed my fingers, I had to come up with a solution to fix that. So I put a spool of thread between the hande and the iron and it works perfect. Now, when ever I go to a workshop, I just sit back and listen to the other quilters discuss why I have that spool of thread in my iron, lol.

Ok...my six words..... Stitched in time, saved my mind!I always say my quilting is my therapy and stress relief, so I thought these words describe how I have maintained my sanity over the years. Hmmm....I have maintained my sanity....I have, I really have!

Sunday, February 24, 2008

What a great meeting we had here in Rock Hill yesterday. Janet Jones Worley was our guest speaker and she was just great - gave a lot of good advice for quilting and life (how to deal with the Barrrrrrrbara's in your life) and showed us her beautiful quilts. I had responsibility for the demo's and am happy that part of the meeting went well too. It was a fun day with friends, vendors and lots of quilts to ohhhhhh and ahhhhh over.

I won a very nice doorprize given by Viking Says Sew n'Quilt in Greenville, SC and I want to say again THANK YOU! The prize included a sewing box that is just perfect for my applique threads and notions, a pattern, chalk marker, bobbin holder, jelly roll, machine needles, magnet pin holder, mettler silk finish thread and a spray bottle of Mary Ellen's Best Press! What a great prize. Next time I am anywhere near Greenville, I will definitely be checking out this shop and suggest you do the same.

And of course, with all those vendors I just had to do a little shopping. I mostly hit the YLI booth, which is here in Rock Hill, and purchased machine quilting thread to use on my Christmas Beauty quilt. I also purchased a large spool of their new gold metallic thread which is heavier than what has been available in the past. From another vendor I purchased an Add a Quarter and an Add an Eighth rulers. The Add a Quarter is pink! Had not seen the pink ones before. The Add a Eighth is perfect for working with paper piecing the Dear Jane Blocks. Also some silk YLI thread that will be making its way to Norway soon!

And of course, I had to buy at least one book. I am addicted to quilt books and magazines and this one is just too cute. Its an applique pattern called Be Attitudes and soon be appearing on my UFO list soon.

All in all a very fun day! When I got home, my hubby had prepared a big pot of vegetable beef soup, I made the cornbread and all the kids, except Ellen, and grandkids were here to have a family supper. I was really pooped by the end of the day and was in bed by 8:00 and slept right through to this morning.

Friday, February 22, 2008

May Britt!! Yes, M3 is my own design. After nearly 4 hours of frustration of trying to get M3 right according to Jane Sickle's design, I just said forget it, and made my own - a target block.Now May - send me your address and the prize will be on the way! Congratulations!

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Here she is - 6 years, 5 months and 20 days later from when I made the first block on September 10, 2001. I finished the last of the center blocks this past weekend and tonight got the last row (Row M) sewn to the rest of the rows. She will go back into hiding now for a while as I have my Christmas Beauty quilt top to quilt, a tulip wall hanging to put together and one more baby basketweave quilt to do. But she is used to be allowed to rests between spurts of activity.

Those of you that are DJ enthusiasts (Janiacs) will note that my basket block is upright. I just could not bring myself to turn that block on its side as it is in the book picture. I think I read somewhere that the printer turned the cover picture on its side when he printed the book and the basket is really supposed to be upright anyway.

Prize Block!!!!!

There is one block in my quilt that is my own design and not in the DJ book? Can you find it? The first person to post a comment identifying the correct "wrong" block will get a little gift from me. You can identify the blocks by starting at the top as Row A, next row as Row B all the way to the last row being Row M. Then just count the blocks across 1 through 13. Example...the third block on the top row counting from left to right would be A3, the fourth block from the left on the second row would be B4...got it? If not, just describe the block to me that is wrong.....well not really wrong, just my own design.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

I pulled out an old friend last night from the top of my projects shelf. I began working on my Dear Jane quilt on September 10, 2001 - one day before that horrible day that changed our world, 9/11. I periodically pull it out and make a few more blocks , recording the day I made the block and what was going on in my life on that day. This record is recorded on fabric and will be on the back of the quilt as a kind of journal. My DJ Journal has some serious gaps in time, but I think it will be interesting to read through all that has occured since I started this quilt, including the marriage of two of my children, the birth of four grandchildren. Each block is a different fabric and maybe someday a quilt historian will have a great time looking at the various fabrics. Last night I finished block M9, Fan Dance. For those of you that are DJ enthusiasts, you know that M is the last row - and Yea, I have been working straight through the blocks so only 4 more blocks to make and then I move on to the triangles!

My daughter, Jennie, and I also made our block exchange blocks for our local guild block swap. These blocks are done in batiks and should make an interesting quilt - something quite different that what I usually make. They draw one name from the names of everyone that made a block and that person gets all the blocks.

Hope you all have a good Saturday. I have a "free" weekend, meaning I have no place that I have to be or do today. Wooohooooooooooo!

Thursday, February 14, 2008

I have to answer the call for something pink in my house, and there is plenty of it cause I love pink!!! (as does my daughter and granddaughter. Here you see my sweet little grandaughter and her baby all in pink.

I have also been tagged by Thimbleanna to confess to 7 weird things about myself. Hmmmm...maybe you should ask my friends and family as I am sure there are things I don't really consider weird that they may beg to differ with me. I already admitted to one thing on Thimbleanna website (sorry, I don't know how to post the link - someone care to tell me?).

I am a former "revenuer"! That's right, I try to keep it secret, but I used to be an agent for the Internal Revenue Service and no, we do not get a discount on our taxes.

I have a deaf cat name Felicia that sleeps in a rubbermaid box and knows sign language; also a blind cat named Topsy that has a phobia about going outside of the house and lives under my bed.

People popping and cracking chewing gum drives me up a wall and back down again.

I applique with Coats & Clark, dual-duty all purpose thread!!!! (horrors to all you silk thread advocates)

My family eats English peas with their spaghetti.

My husband and I enjoy exploring old cemeteries and his ancestors are buried in the "Lively Cemetery"

Hmmmm....uhhhhhhh....gee, this is hard. Maybe one of my "friends" or "family" can come up with #7 ?

Thursday, February 7, 2008

I have read in novels and in some history of healing quilts that when someone who was sick laid under the quilt, they became better. Well, I have my own healing quilt. It was made by my husband's grandmother and she gave it to me. Granny was an interesting person who grew up and lived all her life in mountains of West Virginia. She knew all about home remedies, including which tree bark cured poison ivy, and which herbs to take for different ailments. She was also a quilter. One day, shortly after Fred and I had been married, I was visiting with Granny and complimented her on this quilt. She asked me if I wanted it and of course I said YES. It is a light weight quilt, no batting, and the back is flannel. Over the years, I noticed that when I felt sick or just a little down, I would pull out Granny's quilt and wrap up in it. I came to think of it as my healing quilt, but did not share this with my family until just in the last few years. It was after I noticed that my children were doing the same thing...when they had a cold or just did not feel good, they always pulled Granny's quilt off the quilt rack. Recently one Sunday afternoon, my son asked me to will that quilt to him when I was gone - and my daughter chimed in, OH no...this is going to be my quilt. For now, it is mine - my very own healing quilt. Granny may have passed on many years ago, but her legacy lives on. Thank you Granny (Lula Ada Holstein) for a wonderful gift of love.

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

A cold is a miserable thing, especially when you can't stay home and sleep it off. Seems everyone around me is coughing and moaning, so I guess I just decided to join the crowd. Unfortunately, this is a very busy week for me at work and I have to be there. My mom has also been in the hospital with congestive heart failure, but came home today and is soooooo much better. Thank God! She really had us scared on Sunday when I found myself arguing with the ER doctor that yes, she did need to be admitted to the hospital. They ended up putting her in overnight observation and in the morning the cardiologist admitted her, keeping her for three days.